lot

/lɒt/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/lɔt/

lot noun: a large quantity or number; a great deal.

Image: H Padleckas, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

lot (plural lots)

A large quantity or number; a great deal.
- win the whole lot (of money); i.e. jackpot
- lots of people think so
Synonyms:

load, mass, pile
A separate, appropriated portion; a quantized, subdivided set consisting a whole.
- a lot of stationery
- The Lord divided the land to the tribes, each according to his lot.
Synonyms:

batch, collection, group, set
One or more items auctioned or sold as a unit, separate from other items.
- This is an important lot. Very sorry, but we can't go on with the selling until we know more where we are.1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries
(informal) A number of people taken collectively.
- a sorry lot
- a bad lot
Synonyms:

crowd, gang, group
A distinct portion or plot of land, usually smaller than a field.
- a building lot in a city
- The defendants leased a house and lot, in the City of New-York1820, James Kent, edited by William Johnson, Reports of cases adjudged in the Court of Chancery of New-York, volume 5, published 1822
Synonyms:

allotment, parcel, plot
That which happens without human design or forethought.
- But save my life, which lot before your foot doth lay.1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book), Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 1
Synonyms:

chance, accident, destiny, fate, fortune, destin, doom, fatality, foredoom, foreordination
Anything (as a die, pebble, ball, or slip of paper) used in determining a question by chance, or without human choice or will.
- to cast lots
- to draw lots
The part, or fate, that falls to one, as it were, by chance, or without one's planning.
- O visions ill foreseen! Each day's lot's / Enough to bear.1667, John Milton, “Book XI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
- He was but born to try / The lot of man — to suffer and to die.1725, Homer, “Book III”, in [Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC
A prize in a lottery.
- In the lottery[…] Sir R. Haddock one of the Commissrs of the Navy had the greatest lot, £3000 ; my coachman £ 401694 November 21 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for November 12 1694]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition...
Synonyms:

prize
Allotment; lottery.
- Archons served only for one year and, since 487/6, they were chosen by lot. Generals, on the other hand, were chosen by direct election and could be reelected without limit.1990: Donald Kagan, Pericles of Athens and the Birth of Democracy, chapter 2: “Politician”, page 40 (Guild Publishing; CN 2239)
(definite, the lot) All members of a set; everything.
- The table was loaded with food, but by evening there was nothing but crumbs; we had eaten the lot.
- If I were in charge, I'd fire the lot of them.
(historical) An old unit of weight used in many European countries from the Middle Ages, often defined as 1/30 or 1/32 of a (local) pound.

Verb

lot (third-person singular simple present lots, present participle lotting, simple past and past participle lotted)

(dated, transitive) To allot; to sort; to apportion.
- Sometimes the contractor would lot the work out to some sub-contractor, and he, after the men had worked for a month, would run away, and we should never see the colour of his money.1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, published 1861
(US, dated, informal) To count or reckon (on or upon).

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Lot

Lot

A nephew of Abraham in the Bible and Quran.
- And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 12:5
A male given name from Hebrew of biblical origin; rare today.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Lot

Lot

(error-lua-exec) A department of Occitania, France. Capital: Cahors (INSEE code 46).
(error-lua-exec) A right tributary of the Garonne, in southern France, flowing through the departments of Lozère, Cantal, Aveyron, Lot and Lot-et-Garonne.

lot meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu

lot in Tamil

குலுக்குத் தேர்வுமுறை, குலுக்குமுறைத் தேர்வு, தொகுதி, தொகுப்பு, நற்பேறு, குலுக்குத் தேர்வு முறை

lot in Bengali

lot; luck; destiny; fate; fortune: নসীব nośib

lot in Telugu

lot, share, portion, fortune, luck: ప్రాప్తి prāpti

More languagesFewer languages

lot in Malayalam: നറുക്ക് naṟukkŭ, കുറി kuṟi, സമ്മാനം sammānaṁ
lot in Kannada: ಸಯ್ಪು, ನೆಲೆ, ತಂಡ, ತುಂಬಾ
lot in Odia: ଅଂଶ aṁśa
lot in Sanskrit: अंश áṃśa
lot in Assamese: বহুত bohut, তামাম tamam
lot in Tagalog: lote

Examples of lot in a sentence

He wrote to her […] he might be detained in London by a lot of business.1877, William Black, Green Pastures and Piccadilly, volume 2, page 4:
I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter III, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, page 52:
The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 16:33:
[…] as Jones alone was discovered, the poor lad bore not only the whole smart, but the whole blame; both which fell again to his lot on the following occasion.1749, Henry Fielding, chapter II, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew]...

All 40 example sentences with lot

Synonyms of lot

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

modicum

All synonyms and antonyms of lot

Forms of lot

Noun
plural	lots
Verb
third-person singular present	lots
present participle	lotting
past participle	lotted
past	lotted
Proper noun
alternative form	Lut

Plural of lot: lots

Origin of lot

From Middle English lot, from Old English hlot (“portion, choice, decision”), from Proto-West Germanic *hlut, from Proto-Germanic *hlutą. Cognate with North Frisian lod, Saterland Frisian Lot, West Frisian lot, Dutch lot, French lot, German Low German Lott, Middle High German luz. Doublet of lotto. Related also to German Los.

From Hebrew לוֹט (lot). Doublet of Lut.

Borrowed from French Lot.

Words formed from lot

Phrases with lot

9 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with lot

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about lot

What does lot mean?: Lot means a large quantity or number; a great deal.
What is lot in Tamil?: Lot in Tamil is குலுக்குத் தேர்வுமுறை, குலுக்குமுறைத் தேர்வு, தொகுதி. See Lot meaning in Tamil.
How do you use lot in a sentence?: He wrote to her […] he might be detained in London by a lot of business.
What part of speech is lot?: Lot can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce lot?: Lot is pronounced /lɒt/ (UK).
What is the plural of lot?: The plural of lot is lots.

Words near lot in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-a lot.ogg, en-us-lot.ogg.

Cite this entry: “lot.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lot. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.